Ah, the question that I hear about 1,000 times a day. I don’t know if it is AG’s deep fondness for graham crackers or her love of order and predictability that causes her to obsess about snack time, but after a while it is irritating! Actually, as I was typing this I heard a little voice say, “Is it snack time?” And no, it’s not because she’s hungry. Often she will finish her breakfast, wipe her face, and ask as she gets down, “Is it snack time?”

I had seen this idea in Wondertime magazine a while back for making a child’s first clock, so a couple of months ago I decided to make it and see if it helped our snack time issue. I LOVE IT.

This clock has animals all around the outside with each number. The hour hand has a turtle, the minute hand has a squirrel, and the second hand has a hummingbird. I printed the template from wondertime’s website and then found a cheap seasonal clock from Salvation Army. It was marked $.99, but it was half-off day! So, my clock would have cost $.50, but then when I got home and put a battery in it, it didn’t work. Arg. We bought a new clock kit from JoAnn (affectionally referred to as “the green store” at our house) which cost $5-6 with a coupon. Still pretty cheap.

I painted the face of the clock white (to cover the super lovely snowman motif that it originally had), covered the template with contact paper, and glued on the clock face and the animals to the clock hands. Voila.

It has been really nice for me – and AG is absorbing a lot of familiarity with clocks at the same time. She knows that when the turtle is at the fox and the squirrel is at the bear, Word World is on. We have a morning snack when the turtle is at the bunnies. When the the turtle gets to the bear, it’s lunchtime. The turtle is at the bluebird? Time for naps.

I still am frequently asked about snack time, but I have my standard answer: “Go look at your clock.” Often AG will come back a little downcast and say, “It’s not snack time. The turtle is still at the fox.” We also have used it for when meals end – she is starting to get overly pokey when she’s eating! Rather than just always urging her to take bites and hurry up, I can say, “When the squirrel gets to the beaver, lunch is all done.” Usually that urges her on. Especially after a couple of times of not getting a cookie or something because she used up all of her lunch time pushing her noodles around the plate.

We have started talking about how the squirrel runs all the way around the clock while the turtle moves from one animal to another. When the hummingbird goes all the way around the clock, that is one minute. When the squirrel runs all the way around the clock, that is one hour. When the turtle goes all the way around the clock two times, that is one day.

She knows her numbers, so I think we will soon start talking about actual “o’clock times” – she understands how the clock moves, and I think it will be a fairly natural transition.

Want to make your own? Check out the template and instructions on wondertime.com.